Lebanese performance group explores story of the Silk Road

Ivan Caracalla, head of Caracalla Dance Theater.

He also says the production has dancers from China's Inner Mongolia Dance Theater, and their presence is the biggest tie-up that the Caracalla Dance Theater has had with China.

The Caracalla Dance Theater, founded by Caracalla's father, Abdel-Halim Caracalla, in 1968, is one of the leading dance companies in the Middle East.

The troupe, which has developed its own language of dance by bridging Eastern and Western styles through its work with companies and performers from around the world, has its own theater and dance school in Beirut.

Comprising around 60 core members, including Abdel-Halim Caracalla, the artistic director; and Ivan Caracalla's sister, Alissar Caracalla, the choreographer; the Caracalla Dance Theater has produced 16 dance shows. They include Two Thousand and One Nights and Knights of the Moon, which toured such major cities as Paris, London and Washington DC.

Meanwhile, the group has been performing in China since 2005.

In 2010, it worked with Chinese actors from the Hangzhou Song and Dance Theater for the first time for its musical and dance production Zayed and the Dream, which toured the world in 2011.

Ivan says that besides inviting Chinese performers to join the theater's productions, he hopes to have exchange programs where students from the Caracalla Dance School can visit China and learn traditional Chinese dance.